“Oh my God, can I look up yet?” Jillian said with a playful tone as I pulled the Mercedes down the driveway, finally coming to a stop.

I’d rented a car and told Jillian I had a surprise for her, and I’d had her keep her eyes on her phone ever since we drove through LA. Considering that had been nearly two hours, I was impressed by her patience, even though I figured she could guess where I was taking her.

“Sure can,” I relented.

Jillian lifted her head to see the massive home we were parked in front of. It was a Mediterranean-style villa home with columns out front and a large fountain in the middle of the circular driveway. A few gardeners were out tending the hedges that lined the place, and a valet greeted us with a smile.

“Oh my God, where are we?” Jillian asked.

“Home,” I replied with a grin.

A few minutes later, we were walking into the house, and Jillian was looking around at the interior decor with wide eyes.

“Mr. Anderson left half an hour ago, sir,” the doorman said behind me. “Said he had a meeting he was late for, and your return couldn’t have been more timely.”

“Thanks, Darren,” I said with a thumbs-up to my doorman.

“Bruin, this place is stunning,” Jillian gushed as she looked around at the place. “Who did your interior design?”

“I hired a team of professionals from Milan.” I smiled appreciatively as I walked down the entry hall with her. “They’ve got an eye for design that’s hard to find on this side of the world. But you haven’t seen the best part yet.”

She raised an eyebrow at me, and as if on cue, I heard the sound of tiny feet running on the tile floors.

“Daddy!” came a high-pitched child’s voice from one of the side-hallways, and I instinctively knelt down to see Emma come running clumsily around the corner, her bright eyes shining and her face smiling as she opened her arms for me to catch her.

“There she is,” I said with a laugh, scooping her up in my arms and standing up, immediately launching her into the air and catching her. The sound of her delighted laughter was music to my ears. “How’d you like your time with Uncle Rhett, sweetie?”

“He has big silly arms,” she said, and I laughed, ruffling her hair as I turned to face Jillian with my girl.

“Emma’s at that age where she has a lot of interesting things to say,” I explained, watching Jillian’s face shining in adoration. “She calls the valet ‘Mr. Horseman,’ and I can’t figure out why for the life of me.”

Emma was watching Jillian with a curious expression, and she looked to me for help. I beamed at her. “Emma, this is Jillian, a special friend of Daddy’s.”

She turned and hesitated before giving Jillian a little wave, which Jillian returned, trying not to cry at the sight of me with my tiny little girl in my arms.

“Hi Emma,” she said.

“Why are you crying?” Emma asked.

“Because you’re cute,” Jillian said with a laugh.

“Why?” she asked. I rolled my eyes. Ah yes, the infinite ‘why’ chain.

“Because you have Daddy’s eyes,” she said, and I raised my eyebrows, catching her glance at me.

“Why?”

“I’ll explain that later, sweetie,” I said quietly to Emma. Emma bit her lips a moment, then leaned in to whisper something into my ear. I beamed at Jillian, who was raising an eyebrow at us.

“She says you have ‘nice hairs,’” I translated.

“Daddy, that was a secret,” Emma protested, and I laughed as nodded for Jillian to follow me.

“Oops, sorry, honey. How about I make it up to you by taking us to the park?”

Emma’s eyes widened as if I’d just promised her, well, the best thing in the entire world.

“I think that’s a yes,” Jillian said, and I winked at her.

“Come on, I’ll show you our favorite place.” We headed was back out the doors, plus one Emma.

About half an hour later, we were making our way across the perfectly cut grass fields to the playset at the local park, Emma holding both our hands as she tottered along. Every now and then, she elected to jump up and swing on our hands, giggling wildly, and I was thankful that Jillian seemed delighted to no end by it.

“Jillian, is this your favorite park?” Emma asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.

“I think it might just be,” she said with a judicious nod. “At least, it’s getting there.”

“Daddy, we have to show her the slide.” Emma tugged on both our hands.

“If you’re on the fence about your favorite park, the slide will seal the deal,” I said to Jillian with a faux-serious tone.

We jogged up to the slide in question. This park was definitely on the upscale side of town, so even I had to admit that everything was a child’s dream. The jungle gym was more like a jungle castle, a maze of a wooden fort with tunnels and playsets a kid could get lost in for hours. Maintenance workers tended to everything on a daily basis. Even the geese in the pond were docile, which in my experience was a very rare thing.

Once we got to the slide, Emma ran ahead of us to the steps leading up to it. “Now Emma,” I warned. “You know you’re not allowed to go up there alone.”

She gave me a defiant look, and I could tell she was considering running on up there anyway, but to my surprise, Jillian stepped in to the rescue.

“Emma, can I go up there with you?” she asked in a bright, excited voice. Emma’s face lit up.

“Yeah. Daddy, is Jillian allowed to go up there without you?”

“I don’t know,” I teased, tapping my chin with a smile. “Maybe if the two of you go together, you’ll be okay.”

“Let’s go.” Emma squealed, grabbing Jillian’s hand and taking her up the steps.

I grinned as I watched them go, Emma telling stories about her favorite times down the slide. When they got to the top, Jillian crouched down and held Emma in place while I went to the bottom of the slide and did the same.

Emma went down, giggling hysterically the whole time, until she got to my hands, and I swept her up and laughed triumphantly, tossing her up and catching her like she weighed nothing.

“That was incredible, Emma,” Jillian called down. “This is definitely the best park in the world.”

“I don’t know about that,” Emma said when she finally settled down and Jillian was back down with us. “They probably have really good slides in Japan.”

“Japan, huh?” Jillian said, surprised yet again. “And what all do you know about Japan?”

“So much stuff,” Emma answered with wide eyes.

“Emma’s tutor is from Kyoto,” I explained quietly. “I know she’s a little young for the heavy stuff, but I wanted to get her started early on exposure to other languages. And other basics too, but language is what you want to focus on this young.”

Jillian nodded, then spoke to Emma. “That’s incredible, Emma. I speak lots of languages, too.”

“Really?”

“French and Spanish.”

Emma looked at Jillian like she had suddenly become a goddess. “Whoa.” She then turned to me with an urgent expression. “Daddy, can I learn Spanish?”

“You can learn anything you want,” I told her with a proud smile, and I winked at Jillian, who bit her lip through a grin.

It had never hit me until just then how strange this afternoon was turning out to be. I thought I’d just come to show Emma to Jillian and show her around the house, but the two of them really seemed to be connecting. What was more, I didn’t feel awkward about it.

What Jeff had insinuated about me and Emma followed me around a lot. In the back of my head, as much as I loved Emma, I worried sometimes that people would look at us and assume I was a fuckup of some kind. Of course, that wasn’t how I saw Emma at all, but watching Jillian play with her made that worry vanish so completely that I never would have known it had ever haunted me.

“Daddy, can we go to the bathroom?” Emma asked suddenly, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

“How about you go with Jillian?” I asked, looking questioningly at her.

“Come on, Emma, let’s go together,” Jillian offered with a wink to me, and the two of them made their way to the restrooms while I watched with crossed arms.

I really couldn’t believe it. A few weeks ago, if someone had told me I’d be not only out with my daughter and Jillian Hargrove at the park, but that I’d be enjoying it, I’d have called them insane.

Emma wasn’t the only one to thank for that, either, I thought as I smiled softly. It hadn’t hit me until now, but even in this short time, Jillian had changed me in a profound way.

Even though Jillian had been there all along, it was only now that I could really appreciate everything she was capable of.

A few minutes later, Emma came running out of the bathroom with an excited smile on her face, Jillian rolling her eyes behind her with an apologetic grin at me.

“Daddy-Daddy-Daddy! Jillian says we can go get ice cream!”